Dog costs help

[Lauren25]

I keep saying to OH about getting a dog and he's not so keen on the idea.
Before I really try and persuade him I want to kind of figure out how much one would cost us on a monthly basis to see if we can actually afford one!

So for those people who have dogs what dog do you have and how much do you pay out for them monthly ?

 

[rtracey80]

i have a german shepherd. His food a week costs me about £20 and them i have his insurance to pay which is £28 a month i think. Plus i buy him treats which is about £2 a week

 

[lepaskilf]

Hi, we have a Deerhound. He's a large dog but he's not a massive eater! We buy him a 20kg bag of Iams each month which costs £30 then treats on top is about another £20 a month. But that is one of the most expensive brands of dog food and we do buy him a lot of treats.... the Denta Stix are expensive on their own.

Insurance in £20 a month.

Then there's the vets bills. They never seem to cost over your insurance excess so you always end up paying!!!........ Worming and ticks every 3 months about £40 but again, Alfie is a large dog so he has more of the stuff!!

Initial outlay....... Jabs can be up to £150. Then the microchipping another £50-£100, then the neutering up to £200 at least.

Bed/bowl toys etc up to £50 but again, depends on size and luxury of stuff. Alfie has an old single duvet stuffed in to a large dog bed cover. He also has a stand for his bowls as his can't eat straight from the floor. He also goes through toys alot!!

One last thing .... If you wish to take him to puppy training this can cost about £5 a week for a few months.

I hope I haven't put you off, they are expensive and I think it's wise to have a it extra saved for emergencies! Like initial pay out of vet emergencies, or for kennels if needed (we'e never used one so can't say how much they can be)..........But it's sooo worth it

 

[harveydog]

I have a chocolate lab, and his food cost £10 for 6kg bag of bakers dry food which lasts him 2-3 weeks, then he has treats on top I.e. Gravy bones £3.70 for 1kg bag which lasts a month, a cows hoof once a week £0.75. His insurance is £10-13 per month (changes every year).

 

[Jchihuahua]

I have three dogs. I have a 15 year old staffy and he costs about £15 a month to feed but his pet insurance is £60 a month!!!

My 6 year old chihuahua costs next to nothing to feed and eats the same food as the staffy. Her insurance is about £14 a month.

My 3 year old german shep has skin allergies and needs a raw diet. He costs about £40 a month to feed and his insurance is about £14. He also needs special medicated shampoo at £18 a month.

I also buy flea prevention treatment monthly, about a tenner, and worming every three months, about £20.

Treats work out about £10 a month.

They get their jabs yearly, about £30 each.

Mine have cost me loads recently as two have needed vets treatment and I had to pay £80 excess for each.

 

[Rhi_Rhi1]

We have two Dalmatians, i THINK the food is about 20 a week. the insurance is about 50 a month, you need good cover! has to be ongoing and unlimited, check for clauses that don't include teeth for example ! the "hidden costs" are the kickers, when you budget for a holiday don't forget the extra 200 quid on top you will need for a kennel! boosters every year worming and flea treatment! x

 

[vickytoria88]

We have a rscue dog who cost us £100. Jasper is part colli part bemese mountain dog.Then his insurance is £19 a month (this is expensive but he is then insured for a million pounds and covers everything). Food wise we buy 1kg of food every 2 -3 months and that costs us £10. So on a monthly or weekly base not alot.

 

[WelshOneEmma]

Our dog is just about to turn 2 and we have had her since she was 10 weeks old. She cost us £200 to the rescue, she costs about £20 a month insurance, about £20 a month in treats, then flea treatments (£30), flea treatments for the house (£20 a month), bedding (£30), worming (£10 a quarter), it cost £200 to spay her, £180 to sort her hernia out, i make her food so it costs about £15 a month, plus maybe £5 for raw bones, then obviously the vet visits, jabs etc. Very expensive, but well worth it if you have the money!

 

[citymouse]

I call my dog "the $20,000 dog," because it feels like that's how much we've spent on him over the years. Between the regular expenses, like food, flea and heartworm meds, vaxes, etc., he's had dozens of medical emergencies (mostly caused by the fact that he has no street smarts and will eat ANYTHING, but he's also fallen off things and been bitten by unleashed dogs), plus we board him when we leave town, and we've also spent quite a bit of money on training him.

He's worth it, but it totally adds up!

I would definitely have, in addition to the costs of the basics, money saved up for emergency vet visits (probably $1000 in reserve... there is nothing worse than watching people at the emergency vet calling friends and family at 3 am trying to raise money to save their dog), and definitely a chunk of money for training. Having a well-trained dog makes the difference between enjoying your dog and feeling overwhelmed.

So whatever your monthly costs would be plus probably $1500 in reserves somehow.

And more if you want to send the dog out for boarding/grooming/what have you.

 

[Laura2919]

I have a Dorset Olde Tyme Bulldog. She is a big dog so needs quite a bit of food.

She probably costs about £20 a week on average. I have insurance on her which is unlimited cover for £15 a month and vet bills aren't cheap, her flea and worming is £45 every 3 months

For me its not just the money side of things its time, when I first got Twix we had to make a lot of time to train her and get her used to living here, then when FOB left I was on my own, now I take her to the common when the girls are at nursery and my neighbour helps me walk her. Luckily she gets a lot of excerise and is very energetic.

 

[Elli21]

I have a 2 year old staffy he costs us about £45 every 3 months on food. He also costs us £12 a month insurance. £6 every 3 months for worming tablets. £30 every 3 months on flea treatment.

Hes had a few vets visits, which cost us £25 just for the consultation, then there was the insurance excess of £140....which means we cant move insurance companies as we have made a claim. And they are now looking to put up our monthly costs by £20!

So every 3 months he costs us : £83 every 3 months, and when insurance goes up itll be £103!

 

[Boony]

I have an Akita, she's classed as a giant breed and she is huge! We get her CSJ dog food which lasts her a month and thats £10 for 15kg. Her insurance is £30 a month but we've never had to use it thankfully. Most things dogs go to the vet are aren't covered by insurance.
I don't treat her for fleas all the time only if she gets them which is hardly ever and then i get her john sons stuff and a spray for the house which is usually around £20-£30. Think she's only had fleas once and she's 2.5 years old.
For treats she's gets bones from the local butcher which are free.
Then roughly a new collar every year which is normally around £10-20.
Microchipping her cost us £10 we got it done at her puppy training school but even my vet only charges £20.

Then because she's a big dog and can open doors i've bought large stair gates and i have locks on some doors. I also spent almost £1000 on a metal dog run for her because she could barge her way through my 6ft wooden fence lol (i strongly advise getting a small dog! lol)

What kind of dogs are you looking into getting?

 

[yazzy]

Every dog is different and it depends on what size/breed of dog that you would like. First off well done for looking into it before jumping in feet first. I own 4 dogs...3 Rottweilers, 1 Akita and a little Staffie.

I prefer to do everything the natural way if possible and feed my dogs raw food...I get most of their food free from the local butchers but pay £6 per week for bags of minced meat. They also have eggs and fish but that doesn't cost much at all.

They get a flea treatment once per year at the most and wormed once every 6 months as the most as I do not like putting un-necessary things in their system.

Their insurance costs me just over £20 per dog/per month.

Apart from my Staffie who I rescued and did not pay for the other dogs cost me between £650 and £850 to buy.

I would also recommend a good training class and to continue with this throughout the puppy and adolescent stage as it is really beneficial for both dog and owner.

I run dog training classes and really see the benefits for the owners who come along.

 

[Lauren25]

Thanks everyone that's a great help.
I wouldn't want to put ourselves or a dog in the situation where we couldn't afford it or meaning Bobby would miss out so this is a great help!!

 

[RachA]

I have a springer spaniel that we got at 9weeks old.
At that point she had already had her microchip put in so don't know about the cost of that.

We did her injections which cost us around £70.
She was spayed just before christmas and that cost us £180 which included the op and about 8 post op checks!
She is fleaed and wormed once a month and that costs just over £10 each time.
Her food we buy in bulk and that costs us around £75 for 2 big bags of kibble which lasts around 4 months - so around £18 per month.
We buy her treats which cost around £2 per week.
Insurance but can't remember how much we pay for that.

You also need to consider things like grooming - their fur will probably need to be done once a year at least - I've been given a quote of around £15 for this.
Also, things like dog bed and lead, collar etc. Ours chewed through her first lead so we've had to buy 2 so far. She has also chewed through one bed so far too.
We also bought a crate for her which i think cost around £30.
Also stuff to clean up if they wee inside. Oh and also a new hoover lol. Our hoover does not remove dog fur so it looks like we have to get a new one!

 

[dizz]

I've got a collie/german shepherd/terrier/god knows what else cross and a retired racing greyhound.

Insurancewise - one's classed firmly as a mongrel and is about £20 a month, the greyhound is classed as a "high risk" breed by lots of insurers (quite how you can be high risk when you never voluntarily leave the sofa is beyond me - but they do have things like paper-thin skin so small kerfuffles with other breeds turn into big wounds with them) and is an older dog so she's something like £25 a month to insure.

Food - we go through a mahoosive bag of Wainrights in just under a month that's about £30.

Boosters are I think £26 a year from the last time one needed doing. Flea and worming stuff we pick up as and when its needed. Beds - we just use folded up cheapo Asda duvets that we can strip the covers off and chuck in the washer. Collars... well I do have a SMALL addiction to some of the beautiful hand-made collars you can buy for greyhounds so I've got um... about 6 matching sets of tag and walking out collars which are a completely unecessary expense (but the black one with shimmery butterflies is beautiful). Both ours were spayed/neutered before we got them.

Microchipping - worth keeping your eye out - our local dog wardens just did a chipping session at the weekend for £5 to local residents, instead of the £36 our vet charges - turned out the grey was chipped anyway and just had no details registered to her number so we didn't even have to pay that in the end. Think our council also does a low-cost neutering if you're on certain benefits - otherwise that's like £100-200 (eek!)

We had ours at training classes for a fair while (till the hard chairs and pregnancy back took its toll) that was £7 a dog a week.

 

[Laura2919]

As much as Twix costs me in her various things she needs I wouldn't change her! She makes me feel safe indoors being on my own, she is like another child, loves attention and although isnt that obedient she makes our house complete. The girls adore her. I'd pay it all over again to have her in the house!
She was FOB's idea, he never lived with me but Twix had to as his mum didn't want a dog and when we split he said he wanted to sell her, I couldn't face someone else bringing her up and I didn't like the idea of our relationship falling apart so the dog had to go. I decided I would deal with all she needs, when he comes to collect the twins or drop them home she still goes mad like he owns her and he pays her no attention.

 

[citymouse]

As much as Twix costs me in her various things she needs I wouldn't change her! She makes me feel safe indoors being on my own, she is like another child, loves attention and although isnt that obedient she makes our house complete. The girls adore her. I'd pay it all over again to have her in the house!
She was FOB's idea, he never lived with me but Twix had to as his mum didn't want a dog and when we split he said he wanted to sell her, I couldn't face someone else bringing her up and I didn't like the idea of our relationship falling apart so the dog had to go. I decided I would deal with all she needs, when he comes to collect the twins or drop them home she still goes mad like he owns her and he pays her no attention.

Aw, she's so lucky to have you!

 

[Laura2919]

Ahh I am the lucky one. When you've had a tough day and you open the front door she is there wagging her tail and just generally happy to see you! Makes you feel happy in a cute little way haha